George Brankovich

   Last ruler (1427-1456) of medieval Serbia (q.v.). The capture of Bayezid I (q.v.) at the battle of Ankara in 1402, and the resulting three decades of Ottoman weakness, gave Brankovich the opportunity to restore Serbian independence, symbolized by the new stronghold and capital Smederevo (q.v.). His territory expanded with the inheritance of his uncle Stefan Lazarevich, who died childless in 1427. While the Ottomans (q.v.) regrouped he found support in alliances with John VIII Palaiologos (q.v.). However, he was too weak to resist the Hungarians, who seized Belgrade in 1427, or the renewed vigor of the Ottomans under Murad II (q.v.). Murad II took Smederevo in 1439, and although it was recaptured with the help of Hunyadi (q.v.), the stunning victory of Murad II at the battle of Varna (q.v.) in 1444 brought Brankovich once more into Ottoman vassalage. When Mehmed II (q.v.) demanded troops for the siege of Constantinople (q.v.) in 1453, he complied. Brankovich died in 1456, and so did not live to see the Ottoman conquest of Smederevo in 1459, which ended medieval Serbia.